The present invention relates to a novel polymer and a method of producing the same, and more particularly to N,N'-diphenylbenzidine polymer and a method of producing the N,N'-diphenylbenzidine polymer produced by electrochemical polymerization of N,N'-diphenylbenzidine.
Recently research and development of functional polymer compounds are actively performed since it is well expected that they will become exceedingly useful materials for use in electronics.
For instance, as such materials for use in electronics, polypyrrole, polythiophene, polyaniline and polyacetylene have been reported.
Of a variety of methods of producing these functional polymers, electrochemical polymerization has lately attracted considerable attention.
The electrochemical polymerization is performed by dissolving a monomer and an electrolyte in water, an organic solvent, or a mixture of water and an organic solvent, immersing a pair of electrodes in the solution and applying a predetermined voltage across the electrodes, so that a polymer is deposited at the surface of one of the electrodes.
The following are representative examples of polymers which are reported as being produced by electrochemical polymerization:
(1) Polypyrrole: U.S. Pat. No. 3,574,072, PA0 (2) Polythiophene: K. Kaneto et al., J.C.S. Chem. Comm., 381 (1983) PA0 (3) Polyaniline:
A.F. Diaz et al., J.C.S. Chem. Comm., 635 (1979) PA1 A. F. Diaz et al., J.C.S. Chem. Comm., 854 (1979) PA1 A. F. Diaz et al., J. Electroanal. Chem., 111, 111 (1980) PA1 T. Ohsaka et al., J. Electroanal. Chem., 161, 399 (1984)
Monomers from which electrochemically active polymers are prepared by electrochemical polymerization are limited to the monomers, pyrrole, thiophene and aniline for the above-mentioned polymers, and pyrrole derivatives, thiophene derivatives, furan, and aniline derivatives.
Neither N,N'-diphenylbenzidine polymer itself nor a method of producing the same has been known. As a matter of course, it has not been known that N,N'-diphenylbenzidine polymer can be produced by electrochemical polymerization of N,N'-diphenylbenzidine.